True Strength
by writerchickgirl
Summary: Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel have absolutely no memory of their lives prior to a year ago when they were adopted by Dr. M. Enter Max, the strange young girl with wings who lands on their doorstep and may hold the key to unlocking their past. FAX
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, WCG here. I'm starting a new story right here, right now, my first for Maximum Ride. I haven't been on much lately, but I'm now going to try this out for size. So review when you're done to let me know if I should continue or what.**

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True Strength

Chapter One:

Fang P.O.V.

Hey. My name's Fang.

And I have absolutely no memory of my life before a year ago.

The earliest thing I can remember isn't even clear; it's fuzzy, indistinct, like when you try to read a newspaper after it's been soaked through. I remember 5 successive bangs, and a couple screams and shouts, one of which came from me, and then… blackness. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in an orphanage and learning that, apparently, I had been here all my life and was about to be adopted, along with four other kids.

By a Dr. Valencia Martinez.

None of us call Dr. Martinez "Mom." For whatever reason, it doesn't sound right. Instead, she's Dr. M to us, and Mom only to her daughter, Ella. We've asked her several times if she knew anything about us, but she always says that she was simply told that we could use her help and said "Okay."

They told us that we must've lost our memories in an accident that had happened the day before, but I didn't trust them. They told me my name was Nick, but I somehow knew my name was actually Fang. Same with the others; the pale, blind boy my age was Iggy, even though they called him James, the black girl was Nudge instead of Natasha, little blonde boy was Gasman, not Jason, and cute cherub was Angel, not Ariel.

We all knew each other's names, even though they insisted that we'd never met before then. Another reason not to trust them. But there was one other name we knew, but just couldn't place. A person was missing, and we couldn't remember them at all.

Just a name.

Max.

* * *

"Hey Fang, could you get Nudge up?" Ella asks, poking her head into my room.

I raise an eyebrow at her.

She shrugs. "We need to be gone in thirty minutes! She's refusing to move again, and you _know_ how long she takes to get ready."

I sigh. This is true. Nudge doesn't like to get up, and is always veerrrrryyy slow preparing for the day. I'm not sure why. How can a person take twenty minutes to get dressed?

"Fine," I say, pushing myself off the bed and pulling on a black shirt and jeans before marching into Nudge's room, armed with a bucket of ice cubes (I tried water once. Nudge was giving me dirty looks for weeks for ruining her radio. On accident) ready to shove them down her shirt as is necessary.

Grabbing a fistful, I hold up her collar and shove it down her shirt. She squirms and shrieks, "Wha—What the crap?" Opening her bleary eyes, she spots me and screams, "_Fang!_"

I smirk. "Get up next time."

I slip into the kitchen unnoticed by all and grab the 3 remaining waffles off of the plate on the table before dunking one in bowl of syrup on the table* and taking a huge bite.

Gazzy, seated at the table and conversing with Dr. M, turns to the plate and reaches out before stopping, puzzled.

"What the…???" he says, before turning to see me smirk at him, mouth full. "_Fang_! Those were MINE!"

I shrug. Not like I really cared.

Gazzy glares at me and whispers, "I'll get you for that later."

Well, that's two people I've pissed off so far today. Shall I try for a third?

"_Fang!_"

Apparently so.

Iggy stumbles blindly (pardon the pun) into the room. "Did you move the trash can in the bathroom? I tripped on it this morning! And you're the only one I share with!"

Oh yeah, forgot about that.

"Oops," I say.

"Don't worry about that now! We need to be out the door in ten! Eat! NOW!" Dr. M practically shoves Iggy into a chair beside Angel, who has been silent this whole time, enjoying the arguments.

Nudge comes into the kitchen, in her full Tween-ish glory of make-up and accessories. Stuff that Max never really cared about in the least.

I froze.

Max.

What just happened? How do I know that? Why had I thought that? What's going on? Am I possibly regaining some of my memory? If so, why now?

Angel is looking at me like I've just grown a pair of antennae. Which would be less surprising to me than the truth.

"Fang?" she whispers. Jeez, my name has been used a lot in these past few minutes.

I give her the slightest of nods, and she does so in return. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it, but Angel reads minds.

Another, *ahem*, _not normal _aspect of our confusing lives.

**A/N: Sooooo.... like it? hate it? despise it with such a passion that you'd rather see it explode in a ball of fire than earn a million bucks for saying you like it? (not that that would happen... I'm not the rich... or nice)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, I saw this ad that made me laugh and I feel like putting it in here as an author's note. It was for Homedics (a combo of home and medics, for those of you who made the same mistake I did) You see, I read that as HO medics, and was kinda confuzzled… and found it really funny when I realized that I had screwed up so completely… ^^**

**Anywho, thanks for the great reviews I got within a couple hours of posting! In fact, I luvvles you all SO much that I'm giving you ANOTHER CHAPPIE!!!!**

**(And btw, Of-Winged-Poets, my answer to your question is that, while it would be cool, I think certain parts of the plot go better with Max retaining her memory.)**

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Chapter 2:

Fang POV (It'll probably be mostly him until Max comes in)

My entire day's been really screwy.

I've kept on getting these random flashes of what feels like memories. Some are of the others, Iggy, Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy, but most are of this girl named Max that I think I knew a long time ago but have sadly forgotten. The more she comes into my mind, the more I learn about her, the more I feel as though she should be here.

The more I miss her.

At lunch, Iggy was the only one who noticed that something was up with me. I didn't talk at all, but that was no surprise considering that I hadn't spoken all that much beforehand. Lissa(1) and Ben are the only other people at our table today because they're the only two we can stand. When I first came here, Lissa and I were together for about two weeks, but I broke it off because it just didn't feel right. So we just stayed friends.

But now, it's time for our nightly group meeting. Well, we call ourselves the Flock, because it seems to fit, so it's really a Flock meeting. But again, we're missing a key component.

We're just not too sure as to what said component is.

Angel starts the meeting by coughing and saying, "_Fang_ has something to say," putting emphasis on my name to let me know that she wouldn't say it for me. Bi—jerk.

I give her a quick glare and mutter begrudgingly, "I started getting these little flashes of memory earlier today."

"_What?!_" is the collective outcry from the assembled Flock members, aside from Angel, who knew already, of course.

"And the reason you told us none of this was…???" Iggy accuses.

I shrug."Waited until the meeting." _Plus it was kinda creeping me out. Still does, actually._

"What kind of memories?" Nudge asks intensely.

"Nothing much, just snippets. But I'm slowly piecing together a picture of who Max is… or was," I say, keeping my face calm. This was another reason to keep it on the down low; I didn't have that much to offer. I didn't want to disappoint them, now that they'd gotten their hopes up.

But they weren't disappointed. In fact, they were thrilled. I guess it was sort of a "Finally! A little headway into the mystery of our past!" moment. You know, the kind of moment that you get when you feel your amnesia starting to recede… so commonplace, no?

"Wait, was?" Nudge says. "What do you mean?! Do you think she might be dead? NO WAY! That would so totally suck, because she's pretty much the only thing that we can all remember aside from our names, so we need to find her and figure out what happened to us, or I'll start screaming from the stress of trying to figure something out past the blankness of my memory!"

How she can say so much in one breath will remain a mystery to me until the end of time.

"I don't know," I say honestly. _That's why I said _OR_._

Angel giggles.

"So… what's she like?" Iggy asks. "What do you know?"

"She's… tough, I think. And brave. She's a smart-as—aleck and self-confident. She's pretty, and… I dunno why, but I keep picturing her _flying._"

"Flying?" Gazzy asks. "Like a bird?"

"Yeah. Wings and all."

"Cool!" he says. "That'd be awesome! I'd love to have wings!"

"Oi, everyone! Bed! You have school in the morning, and it's ten o'clock! Way past the little ones' bedtimes!" Dr. M calls up, interrupting.

Indeed, Angel has already started to fall asleep. So it was, with hope for finding Max at last, that we, the Flock, bid each other good night and stumble off to sleep.

* * *

After another school day full of strange visions, I am sitting in Dr. M's kitchen with all the Flock, enjoying a fresh batch of chocolate-chip cookies. It's almost five, and Ella isn't back quite yet, so we're starting to worry. Usually, she would've been back about twenty minutes ago. But being twenty minutes late isn't something to call the police over, so we are simply waiting for her to show.

A moment later, Ella walks through the door, breathless and shaking. "Sorry I'm late, Mom, guys, but Ortiz and his gang held me up over helping Danny (2) the other day."

"Ortiz?" Dr. M looks petrified, and understandably so. Ortiz is known to have hurt people pretty severely, even to have killed them before.

"Yeah, but I'm fine," she says, shrugging off her mothers attempts to check her over. "Seriously, I wasn't touched. This girl came out of nowhere and saved my butt. I never got to thank her though. I… was too busy running away." Ella looks down, ashamed.

"There's nothing wrong with running away in a situation like that," Dr. M soothes. "Don't worry; I'm sure the girl will be fine. We'll have to see if we can find her again someday and thank her for what she did. It was a very brave thing."

_Sounds like something Max would do_.

By now, I have gotten semi-used to these flashes of information, and I know enough about the mysterious Max to understand that yes, this is exactly the type of thing she would do.

Ella still doesn't look convinced, so Dr. M says to her, "Why don't you take Magnolia out and calm down a little? She needs to go outside anyways, so it all works out."

Ella nods and grabs her coat from the rack, seeing as it's raining outside, before hooking Magnolia with her leash and tromping her outside.

We spend a few peaceful minutes in silence before we hear:

"Oh my God, is that _blood_?"

And then:

"Mom! Mom, this girl needs help!"

**A/N: Ha! Second chappie! Short, but important, and I wanted to put it up. Max POV next chapter, okay? Anyone who can't guess who the "mysterious girl" is needs to go back and read the first book/gain a couple of brain cells because it should be ridiculously obvious whether or not you've read the books.**

**(no offense to any and all who cannot fathom whom this person is. I pity you ^^)**

(1) I'm so tired of people making Lissa bitchy, so I gave her a minor role in this story purely for the sake of making her nice. Seriously, we know only two things about her (She's flirted with and kissed Fang), yet every single person, it seems, makes her a bitch.

(2) I don't actually remember the bully & Co.'s names, so I'm making some up. If you honestly care about their names being correct, go, do yourself a favor, and get a life.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, super sorry about the slow update. For the record, I blame my brother. He was trying to change the operating system on the computer with this story on it, and he did so when I was called away to do a task for my mother, while I was in the middle of writing this chapter. So when I got back, the computer was useless. And then we ended up getting rid of it. And this isn't even the original chapter; the original is on my brother's external which kind of broke. So I'm pissed. I had lots of other stuff on there too. He says it can be fixed and the files won't be lost, but he needs the help of his friend Pierce to do so and I'm tired of waiting. So I'm rewriting it.**

**And for those of you who completely skipped over that obnoxiously long A/N, IT'S ALL MY BROTHER'S FAULT.**

**So finally, here be chapter three:**

Max's POV

Life sucks.

Just saying.

Honestly, you'd completely agree with me if you'd grown up a genetic mutant with wings under the "care" of a bunch of sicko whitecoats and their pet experiments who enjoyed watching you suffer, escaped with five other mutants and a "sympathetic" whitecoat to a house in Colorado, woke up one morning to said whitecoat's disappearance and supposed death, then woke up another morning to find everyone else was gone, traveled back to the School where you'd grown up, only to discover that they had been made normal and had forgotten your existence, and then you had to endure almost a year of torture at the whitecoats' hands (including those of your "sympathetic" whitecoat) before finally breaking out.

Oh yeah, and after all that, I end up getting shot while trying to protect a young girl from about bunch of jerkish bullies.

So I'm going to reiterate myself:

Life _really_ sucks.

And now I'm entrusting my life (and secret) to a bunch of strangers that I know nothing about except for the fact that they have a fairly brave daughter.

"Mom! Mom, this girl needs help!" the girl calls as she ushers me inside.

I stumble into a small, cozy, middle-class-income house and am immediately surrounded by the warm aroma of vanilla and chocolate.

"Oh God." A pretty Hispanic woman comes from the room I assume is the kitchen, based on the smell of heaven wafting from the doorway, covering her mouth. "What happened?"

"One of those idiots had a gun and managed to clip me with a shot. Can you believe that?" I say, grunting in pain.

"Come in here." She leads me into a den and sits me down on a comfortable, cushy chair. "How long ago were you shot?"

"H-half a day ago."

"You must be in a lot of pain. What's your name?" she asks as she inspects the wound on my shoulder.

"Max," I grunt.

"Max, I'm Dr. Martinez. I'm a vet so I'll be able to help you." Dr. Martinez pauses. "I… take it you don't want me to call your parents?" Yeah, that would work. _Hello, lab? May I speak to a test tube please?_

I glance away.

"Or the cops?"

I give a short stiff nod.

"Come on, let's go into the bathroom. I can treat your wound there." Dr. M, as I have officially dubbed her, leads me into a small, you guessed it, _bathroom_.

"Iggy!" she calls. "Bring some wet cloths in here!"

I freeze.

_Iggy_.

Iggy, as in my favorite blind pyromaniac bird-kid Iggy? Could it really be him? I hadn't seen anyone aside from Dr. M and girl-whom-I-saved-but-don't-know-the-name-of, probably because Dr. M had asked them to stay back.

Then I remember: even if it is _my_ Iggy, he won't even remember my existence. A pang of sadness strikes through my heart; God, I miss my miscreant, dysfunctional family.

These thoughts whiz through my head before a second has passed. Not too long after, Iggy shows up with a wad of dripping cloths and stares at me.

_My Iggy!!!_

"Iggy! What are you waiting for? The cloths?" Dr. M demands sharply, holding out her hand.

Looking dazed, Iggy drops the wad, completely missing Dr. M's hand, unusual for him, even though he's _blind_, and then turns and races back out.

Huh. Maybe the scientists test didn't work as well as they hoped. But why would he run away?

Icy hands of fear grip my heart. Maybe the scientists lied; maybe instead of forgetting me, they made the rest of the Flock believe that I had abandoned them or something and now they hated me.

God, I hope not.

I'm jerked back to reality by Dr. M saying, "…take your jacket off."

"What?" I say, despite having understood what she meant. I'm just hoping against hope that I misheard her, even though I knew from the start that I'd have to trust these people with my wings.

"I'll need to take your jacket off, to get a better look at your wound. Is that alright?"She searches my face worriedly, seeing signs of stress there.

I take a deep breath. "No, it's fine."

Nodding, Dr. M slowly peels off my dirty, bloodstained jacket to reveal my tank-top…

And wings.

"Max… what's this?" she asks, stunned.

"It's a wing," I stutter. "It's my, um, wing."

**A/N: Heh, a bit of a cliffie. And since this is different from TAE, you DON'T know for sure what all's going to happen next!! YAY!**

**I enjoy suspense.**

**Greatly.**

**You know what else I enjoy greatly?**

**Reviews.**

**Click the magic button, please?**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So, I'm being really nice to my wonderful reviewers and updating super quick. Don't expect for other updates to come this quickly; it's only cuz it's the weekend. School messes me up. Bleh XP**

**But anywho, chapter 4! And, what's that? *le gaspeh* It's a little bit of IGGY POV!**

**(but just a tad)**

**Disclaimer: *forgot to do this for the past three chappies* Because, you know, it makes _so much sense_ for me to be James Patterson, seeing as I'm not middle-aged, nor am I a man, nor *gasp* do I own the awesomeness that is Maximum Ride.**

Iggy POV:

Okay, so I'm taking a wild guess here, but I'm pretty sure that the Max that I just saw (figuratively, of course) is the same one that has been eluding our memories for the past year. Why, you ask?

Well, because the moment I heard her, I thought, "_Damn, she hasn't changed at all_."

And then I thought, "_Good thing she couldn't hear that_."

Then it was sort of, "_Oh my God, who are you and why do I magically remember you?!...well, sort of._"

So pardon me if I stared in total shock. I mean, who wouldn't in that kind of situation?

After dropping the wad of cloth on the floor, I race back into the kitchen to speak with the rest of the Flock, wondering what on earth I was going to tell them. I mean, we had found _Max_. The Max. The Max who had been haunting our thoughts for a year. The Max who would kick our butts into the middle of next week if we did something stupid.

I stop in my tracks, just a foot outside of the kitchen. Now I think I get why Fang didn't talk about the memory flashes at first. It's _creepy_.

Taking a deep breath, I push the open the door into the kitchen to find the whole flock silent.

"Iggy! What happened?" Angel asks. I turn to the sound of her voice. "Was… was what you thought true? Do you really think…?"

"Yeah, Angel, I do," I say calmer than I feel. "I think that the girl the Dr. M is helping is Max."

Silence.

* * *

Fang POV:

Well, we kind of knew something was up when Angel jumped about six feet in the air and started hyperventilating. As we tried to coax her into telling us what was wrong, Iggy burst in, causing us all to stare at him silently, the stares, of course, being lost on him. Then we find out that, oh, _Max_, the Max, is here.

So we're a little stunned at the current moment.

I'm the first one to recover and say, "How do you know?"

"Because the moment I… registered her presence, I started to get these random flashes of memory, just like yours," Iggy answers softly.

"I want to see her," I say calmly and with authority. "Now."

I stand and begin to stride towards the door when Angel says, "Wait, I'm coming with you."

"Me too," mutters Gazzy.

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm coming! Why wouldn't I? We've been trying to find her for, like, _ever_, and now that we have, do you really think that I'm just going to stay here and…" Nudge trails off. "Wait. You didn't even ask if I was going, did you?"

I smirk.

Nudge flushes. "Well, that's beside the point. The point is: I'm coming."

Iggy sighs. "Well, I'm not staying behind."

"Staying behind?" Ella inquires, popping her head into the kitchen. "Where are you _going?_"

"Nowhere," I say, just as Nudge says, "To see Max!"

Way to keep a secret, Nudge.

"Well, come on then!" Ella gestures for us to follow impatiently. "I came back here to get y'all(1) anywho. There's something you should see."

Curious now, we stand up and march behind Ella as she leads us to where a girl, who looks to be about my age with brown hair was sitting on the bathtub with gauze covering her shoulder and…

And _wings_ protruding from her backside.

Then the memories come rushing back.

* * *

Max POV:

Dr. M and Ella (I know her name now. That's one mystery solved! Only about two billion to go…) both took my wings pretty well. Actually, they barely reacted aside from a gasp of shock, which, all things considered, is pretty doggone good.

Then Ella went to go get the "others", one of which, I assumed, would be Iggy. And I began to hope against hope that at least some of the rest of the Flock would be there as well, so that I could at least know that they were alright, even if they hated me.

Then I saw that not only was _Iggy_ here, but everyone else too!

_My Flock was perfectly fine!_

They are all staring at me like Iggy had, but I'm too busy taking in the wonder of it all to fully register this or wonder what it could mean. Nudge looks confused, but happy, which makes me feel better. Angel looks the same. Gazzy just looks bewildered. But they all seem to be okay.

Then my eyes travel over to Fang, and right away it's obvious that he's freaked. I remember that my wings are totally visible, and wonder if, now that he's normal, my wings are too much for him. A pang of sadness pierces through me at this thought, but I shake it off. I can worry about that later.

Iggy looks calmer and curious. "So, Ella," he says nonchalantly, "care to inform me as to what it was that you want to show us? Remember, I'm _blind_."

Ella flushes. "Well, Max has…" she glances at me for conformation, and I nod.

"Max has wings."

At that, Fang bolts from the room.

**A/N: Ok, for those of you wondering, there **_**is**_** a reason why Fang got memory flashes before Iggy, and why he bolted from the room. I think some of you can probably guess as to why he ran, but the other part… well you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?**

(1) For those of you who have an issue with the word y'all, suck it up. I'm from the south, and I retain the right to say y'all at anytime. I don't think any of you will care, but I've met a lot of wack-jobs who would care about something stupid like that.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ok, so I lied. This is another quick update. However, I didn't anticipate having this much time on my hands, seeing as I normally would be at church right now. But for whatever reason, I woke up this morning past the time when we usually leave to find everyone else in the house gone. Why they left me here? I'll have to ask when they get back. But yeah, I'm updating now.**

**Truth-Unspoken: Wow, that's a lotta questions… And most of them, you'll have to wait and see. But yeah, your prediction about Fang bolting was spot on. The rest will be revealed later.**

**Disclaimer: So, this morning, I saw a little ad that said, "MAXIMUM RIDE FOR SALE!" so I called the number and it turned out to be the Rejection Hotline... can anyone tell me how that makes sense? The point is, MAXIMUM RIDE IS NOT MY OWN!**

Chapter Five:

Fang POV:

The moment I laid my eyes on Max, memories started to rush back. I saw her in a cage, me next to her, wings protruding from both of our backs. I saw us being tested. I remembered how I met the others, I remembered how we escaped. I remembered Jeb's disappearance. I remembered them coming in the middle of the night. I remembered _everything_.

So, of course, I went the tactful route, flipped out, and ran.

_Brilliant, Fang._

I scold myself as I lie in my bed, heart pounding. Even though I can remember, there are still so many questions. Where are our wings? What happened to Max? What has she been doing? Did she come looking for us? Why didn't she wake up when they took us?

_And why didn't they take her?_

And the only person that can answer any of those questions is Max herself.

* * *

Max POV:

Dr. M finishes patching me up and apologizes for the Flock's behavior.

"I don't know _what_ that was. Believe me, they shouldn't have had any problems with your wings. I just don't get it…" she trails off.

"Come along, Max," she says suddenly. "Let's get you into bed. We have a spare room that we use as a guest room."

"Oh no, I'm really okay. I'll be fine! Honest!" I protest.

Dr. M gives me look. "You need to rest. Bed. Now," she says in a no-nonsense voice.

Wow… Dr. M has a Death Voice. And it's actually scary. Yes, I, Maximum Ride, am scared of Dr. M's Death Voice. You would be too, believe me.

So I obediently follow her into the guest room and collapse onto the nice, warm bed.

* * *

Fang POV:

It's the meeting.

And woo-wee, do we have something to meet about.

I've decided to keep my regained memory a secret. At least until I get some answers from Max. Which is kind of hard with a mind-reading former-bird-kid in the room.

It basically means I have to concentrate on Max's arrival, and none of the new _details_ of past. A couple things are okay, because of the memory flashes, but too many would raise suspicion. And believe me, I really want to be brooding on what happened.

I'm so busy avoiding my memory that I miss most of the meeting. However, it's obvious that everyone else has started getting memory flashes. So why did I get them first?

I barely notice when the meeting ends. As everyone starts to leave, I slip out unnoticed and slink to the guest room, where Max is sleeping peacefully.

Well, doesn't she look so much more relaxed than usual? Too bad for her, I'm here to wake her up and most probably scare the crap out of her. Then she'll probably throw something at me or kick me or something. Then I'll pepper her with questions she may or may not know the answer too.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

I step to the side of her bed and poke her non-injured shoulder.

"Wha—," she exclaims, startled, and automatically kicks out, catching me in the stomach. Hard.

"Fang!" she whisper-shouts. "What the—what are you doing?! You scared the crap out of me!"

Well, my prediction was pretty _spot-on_, wouldn't you say?

I smirk at her, but then it fades and I say, "Max, we need to talk."

She suddenly looks confused. "About what?" She pauses. "Wait, do you… do you remember me?"

"Yeah, I do. But I still have some questions that need answering."

"But how… they told me they wiped your memories. Replaced them, even. They said they hid your wings, too." Max looks confused and angry.

"I guess it didn't work as well as they'd hoped, cuz our memories weren't replaced; it was like they didn't exist. We remembered nothing, not even fake memories. But it did work a little: our wings are gone, and up until I saw you, I could only remember your name and a few of your characteristics, most of which I learned from these little memory flashes I'd been getting. Then I saw you and I remembered everything."

"What about the others?" she asks.

"They started getting flashes when they saw you. Dunno why I got them first. I was hoping you would."

"I don't know… all I know is, that when I woke up sleepy and feeling like I'd been drugged, which is what I think happened, you were all gone. I went to the School, because that's where I thought you'd been taken. I got captured, and Jeb told me that you were all living normal lives and didn't remember anything of your true past, just a bunch of fake memories of a fake life. "

"Jeb?" I ask, stunned.

Max growls. "Yes, Jeb. He's a traitor. He's one of them." She sighs and continues her story.

"Eventually, I broke out. But I didn't go looking for you a) because you wouldn't remember me and b) because… because you had a chance at a normal life. And that's something we'd always wanted. I didn't want to try to take that from you. But, at the same time, I… I wanted to be sure you were okay."

"Why didn't they take you?" I question her softly.

"I don't know, but I do know this: as soon as I'm ready, I have to leave."

**A/N: Well, that should answer some people's questions. And then, of course, raise a few more. Ahh, the wonders of suspense. It makes people keep reading. Which is, of course, what I want.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Well, I didn't update as quickly as I did the past few times. But seriously, an update a day will never happen with me. So suck it up and deal with it. ^^**

**But anywho, lovely readers who have many questions for me, here is chapter 6! Farthest I've ever gotten in a story! (pathetically)**

**Disclaimer: Aximum-may Ide-ray is ix-nay ine-may. (did I do that right? I dunno… and is it possible to do 'is' in Pig Latin?)**

Max POV:

Fang looks startled.

"What? Why?" he asks after a pause.

"Think about it, Fang. You're the only one who remembers everything! Your wings are gone! I can't take you with me, and I can't stay here! I can't stay in one place for very long, they'll find me, you get that, but you… you have a chance at what we all wanted. A chance at normalcy. They think you're irrelevant now, and they won't come after you. I can't take that away from you," I say, ranting impressively.

"No," he growls.

"No?" I whisper-shout. "_No?!_ Since when do you have any control over me? Since _when_ do you tell me 'no'?"

Fang looks like he wants to argue more, but instead he stands and rushes out.

"Fang, wait!" I call. "Fang. Fang!"

"_Fang!_"

* * *

Fang POV:

Max.

What is her issue? Why does she want to leave so soon after getting here? Why does she want to abandon us?

Slowly, my rough, ragged breathing slows and I calm down. I know that I'm being irrational, but… but I just got Max back, and I'm not interested in losing her again, so soon. She's being cool and logical, thinking through her decision for what was best for everyone, and that was always _my_ job. I was the emotionless rock, the one who slowed Max down when she wasn't thinking far enough ahead, not the other way around.

I stop in the den and turn around, heading back to Max's room, which shows that I'm nothing if not idiotically courageous. Because running back to a most-likely pissed-off Max is ridiculously stupid and brave.

I open the door to her room, only to find it empty, the bedcovers mussed, and the window open. For a moment, I'm scared she might have left already because of me, but then I remember that her wing was still hurt badly enough that she can't fly right now and her things are still inside the room. I poke my head out the window and, sure enough, I can see Max's legs dangling off the roof. Pulling myself out the window, I begin to scale the side of the house, alerting Max, who glances down at me, looking surprised.

"Hey," I say, settling down beside her. _Smooth_, I chide myself.

"Hey," she replies.

We sit there in silence for a moment before Max speaks.

"You know I wish I could stay, right?"

"Yeah, I know," I murmur. "I wish the same."

"But I don't really have a choice," she says, more to herself than me gazing out across the sky.

"We always have a choice. Just sometimes the right answer is glaringly obvious."

She snorts, very Max-like, unlike what most of this conversation has been.

She turns to face me, and suddenly the moonlight hits her face and I'm struck by how… mesmerizing she looks. Which kind of creeps me out. I've always though of Max as my kick-ass older sister, never like that.

Somehow I find myself leaning towards her, and she doesn't pull away. I tilt her chin up gently and get even nearer to her, staring into her eyes...

But then we both pull away abruptly, uncomfortably conscious of what had almost happened. And we definitely didn't need any _more_ complications in our highly complex lives.

"Come on," she says after a pause, not meeting my eyes. "Let's go back inside."

I nod, feeling almost numb and lead the way back to her bedroom window, keeping an eye on her and her injured shoulder, but aside from a few grunts she manages the climb well. Sliding into her room, we bid each other good night and I leave, falling into bed, certain that I won't be able to sleep.

And of course, sometime after 3:00 AM, sleep pulls me under.

**A/N: I think I'm better at Fang POV than Max… or at least I think I like it better… meh, I dunno.**

**Anywho, chapter 6! And, what's that? *le gaspeh* It's a smidgen of FAX!!!**

**Please review. It makes me happy. I've had so many more hits than reviews, and reviews are oh so wonderful and delicious. I'm always up for some new ideas on how to improve.**


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